The Vatican is asking for help from Lin, Tebow

The Rockets’ popular star and the NFL quarterback have been asked to help in a “We Believe in Sports” international conference to help promote good values and contradict some of the recent troubles in sports — including Lance Armstrong’s recent admission of lying.

Msgr. Melchor Sanchez de Toca Alameda, head of the council’s Culture and Sport section, asks these athletes to “demonstrate that faith and sports are compatible,” author Jeff Schapiro wrote in this Christian Post article.

Wrote Schapiro: “Professional sports are too financially driven, the monsignor says, and instead of being an enriching experience they have “reduced people to merchandise.” He says American cyclist Lance Armstrong, who according to The Associated Press confessed to Oprah Winfrey in a recently-taped interview that he used performance-enhancing drugs during his career, is just one example of a competitor in a “rotten” cycling world where athletes are pressured by commercial interests into using illegal practices.”

Bruce Wawrzyniak is the co-founder and director of the Catholic Sports Association and is a leader in this effort.

“Sports are great because you learn to work within a team concept,” Wawrzyniak said in the article. “In today’s day and age of childhood obesity, sports get kids off the couch and into something that promotes a healthy lifestyle. Sport also breaks down barriers, whether cultural, religious, political, or economical. The athletes – especially in international competitions – can unite through the game that they are playing.”